United Kingdom
Arthur Kirkland (born April 23rd 1987) is a British musician from London, England. He first emerged as an alternative rock artist, releasing his début album Illusion of Personal Territory in 2007, under the label of CRN. The album was of little success, reaching only no. 45 in the UK charts. His second studio album, Mr. England, was released only in early 2010 under Auswhal Corporation's own label, following a requested transfer after the collapse of CRN due to bankrupcy caused by the financial crisis in the United Kingdom. Before the release of the March 2011 single "Check Yes Juliet", which topped the charts the week it was released, giving his fame a considerable boost, most of his sucess emerged from gigs. After the release of his first album in 2007 he toured Europe with the popular British band Blood Red Romance as their supporting act. He was to join a band formed by Auswhal Corp. in late January 2011, however, the idea has now officially been declined. He is the older brother of Peter Kirkland, whom he currently lives in a Los Angeles suburb with, and the third youngest of six siblings (both half and whole) in total. Early Life Born in Stratford in the borough of Newham, East London, Arthur Kirkland lived with his regularly unemployed mother for 10 years. His father was sent to a mental institution shortly after Arthur was born. In an interview conducted and issued by Auswhal Corp, he describes the first 10 years of his life as being 'one of the many parts of his past he would rather forget'. He mentions in the same interview that his mother was 'as mentally unstable as his father', whom lost Arthur's three older half-brothers in custordy battles with their respective fathers. When Arthur was three, the same happened again with his younger half-sibling ((note: This refers to a potential Northern Ireland OC, not Sealand)), and he believes that the stress and depression of losing her other sons, as well as his father, was what made her violent and abusive towards him. : 'Mummy was a heavy drinker to begin with, but as I grew up she gradually worsened. She would seem fine during the day, and I suppose given the situation, she raised me as well as could be expected. My older brothers were taken from her due to her drink problem, but with my father being an official ''lunatic, she managed to hold onto custordy of me. When I began school at age four, she managed to stay sober until she'd bring me home on an afternoon. She'd begin at four o'clock with a glass of whisky and a cigarette. By six, the whole bottle would be gone. By seven, so would the entire packet of cigarettes. Oh, but that didn't stop her - she'd find more. If she couldn't, she'd already be shitfaced enough to think it was all ''my fault.' : —Arthur Kirkland, in an interview conducted by Auswhal Corp. In 1997, his father escaped from the mental institution he had been held in. In the Auswhal interview Arthur describes the evening his father broke back into his mother's house in detail. He speaks of being in his bedroom and hearing loud crashing and arguing from downstairs, which he states would 'never happen, unless it was Mummy and me'. He considers venturing downstairs and seeing his father pouring what he descibes as 'boiling hot tea over unconcious mother', as the trigger for him to run away from home. He was found on the streets in the centre of Newham by the police, and spent the rest of his childhood in a children's home. The incident was recorded by police, and as a result Arthur's youngest and only whole brother, Peter Kirkland (the statement released by Auswhal goes on to mention DNA tests proved that the two share biological parents, and that Arthur himself did not wish to discuss his younger brother's birth), was originally taken into the same children's home. There, Arthur was given the opportunity to learn to play the guitar as a positive and creative output; a way of dealing with the childhood trauma. He attended Stratford School from the age of 11, and was noted for being both an incredibly intelligent student, and a deliquent. Though not necessarily unruly, the Auswhal source states that he would skip class a lot, and was quite often found either smoking around the back of the school building or trying to break out of the school grounds. Unlike Peter, Arthur was never adopted nor fostered. He left the children's home when he finished school at 16, and from then on lived in a youth hostel, working for a while cleaning the floors of a Wetherspoon's pub. Despite the numerous outstanding grades he had left school with, he never entered into college or university. A year later, at age 17, he entered into the 2003 edition of Pop Idol, and although he was unable to make it past the top 50 contestants, he was recognised for his talent by a scout of CRN, the company he subsequently signed a contract with. Music Career Though recognised for his musical talent, CRN did not begin recording with Kirkland until 2007. He spent roughly four years in musical theatre until the company were completely satisfied with his stage presence. Most noteably, he was the understudy of the Lead Tenor Stormtrooper in an independent version of The Producers, from mid 2004 until CRN eventually granted him a solo record deal in 2007. Illusion of Personal Territory, his first album, only reached no. 45 in the UK album charts. The first single from said album, "Machines", reached no. 55 in the UK singles chart, and the second single, "Here Without You", reached no. 39. His career seemed like a gamble to CRN, and to improve sales of the album, he toured with the label's most successful band, Blood Red Romance, as their support act during their tour of the UK and mainland Europe. Much of Kirkland's sucess thereafter came from performances in bars and concerts. When the UK's financial crisis caused CRN to collapse in 2009, many of their acts were bought out by other companies, and Kirkland accepted a contract with Auswhal Corp. His career within the corporation has been relatively stable since then. In February 2010, he released his second album - and his first in the USA - Mr. England, which peaked at no. 22 in the UK album charts, and no. 70 in the US. In late January 2011, rumours began to emerge about the possibility of Kirkland forming a band with two fellow Auswhalians. The corporation has confirmed this to be true, however stated that the idea has been mooted, due to lack of confirmation from the potential drummer of the band, Gilbert Beilschmidt, as well as considerable personal tensions between Kirkland and the potential lead singer, Mathias Sørensen. The band was to be named Iron Cross, and a concept image of the three potential members was released with the statement given by Auswhal. A more recent rumour that Sørensen has been looking into a replacement guitarist to take the position intended for Kirkland has emerged, however this has yet to be confirmed by the corporation itself. With the peak of Kirkland's solo career at the end of March 2011, Auswhal officially stated the band idea had been 'put to one side'. It is therefore possible that the band may go ahead and be formed without Kirkland. On March 30th, his third studio album, Bridges to Burn, was released in both the USA and UK. The first single from said album, "Check Yes Juliet", was released on March 22nd (USA and UK), and topped both charts the very week it was released. Though the reception of the song was generally positive, rumours have begun to emerge that, based on how relatively unsuccessful Kirkland's career had been in the past, there was an injection of money from Auswhal to manipulate both the weekly charts of the USA and UK. A representative from Auswhal denied these rumours, and Kirkland himself refuses to comment on the matter. Additionally, the entire project was said to have cost more overall than that of his two previous albums combined. A nine-day tour of the UK in early May followed the completion of the album. The second single, "Anywhere But Here", was released on June 8th. Personal Life Past the trauma of his childhood, Kirkland has spoken extremely little of his personal life, often brusquely avoiding most questions by interviewers. A handful of famous names that know him often describe him as being a very cynical, sarcastic and uptight person, whereas a few others have said that he is relatively polite and reserved. He was introduced in a July 2011 interview as being 'primarily known for his huge eyebrows, short temper and a vocabulary that would put a sailor to shame'. Kirkland has been spotted numerous times with mooted bandmate Mathias Sørensen, in Las Vegas, as well as Los Angeles, where the two musicians both live. Their former, if not current, relationship is questionable, and presumed to be tense; Kirkland himself refuses to speak about it. There have been vague rumours of the two of them arguing, and to a rarer extent - kissing, in public, beginning in late January, when the rumours about the band first emerged. In March 2011, after a confirmed spat between the two, Kirkland was spotted leaving his house with a bag, and later seen at LAX airport, with who is assumed to be actor Francis Bonnefoy. On March 17th, however, just a few days after the incident, he was seen at the headquarters of Auswhal's rival company - Meraviglie - at a gathering for the birthday of the CEO of Meraviglie's grandsons, Feliciano and Lovino Vargas. Kirkland was one of the only two confirmed Auswhalians at the gathering, the other being his agent, Chau Quan Hoang. Additionally, Kirkland and his younger brother are rumoured to be neighbours to the eldest grandson, Lovino. Discography Studio Albums *''Illusion of Personal Territory (2007) *Mr. England (2010) *Bridges to Burn (2011) Trivia *Kirkland is a firm believer in the occult. He has made frequent claims that he can interact with ghosts and fairies, among other paranormal entities, that otherwise appear invisible to normal people. *Additionally, he also claims to be fluent in Elvish, among other tongues not used in modern society. *He shares his birthday with St. George's Day, the national day of England. *It is rumoured that his siblings, as well as his maternal cousin Riley Dawson, are not very fond of him. *Despite being born and raised in East London, after leaving home at 10 he developed a heavy 'Queen's English' accent, for unknown - most likely psychological - reasons. He is noted to be very formal and well-spoken for someone of his age and status. *His sexual orientation is a grey area. He is currently single and seems vaguely uninterested in a relationship. Tropes/Headcanon *Aloof Big Brother *Big Ol' Eyebrows *Big Screwed-Up Family *British Stuffiness *Cassandra Truth *Cluster F Bomb *Covert Pervert *Deadpan Snarker *Drowning My Sorrows *Everything's Better On Drugs *Former Teen Rebel *Hair-Trigger Temper *Hollywood Nerd *Informed Loner *Jerkass Woobie *Knight in Sour Armour *Lethal Chef *Mean Brit *Not So Above It All *Perpetual Frowner *Quintessential British Gentleman *Smoking Is Cool *Sophisticated as Hell *Tsundere *What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome? *With Europe But Not Of It *Workaholic Original Application '''Country:' United Kingdom (England) *''hclarcy; GMT'' *'Human name:' Arthur Kirkland *'Age:' 23 *'Birthday:' April 23rd *'Personality:' A very biting and sarcastic man, whom has a bad temper and is cynical about pretty much anything and everything. He can be strangely polite and gentlemanly for someone with his job and lifestyle though, sometimes - mostly with people who don't irritate him; which, as a matter of fact, is very few people. He has a weird obsession with the occult and can often seem to be 'away with the fairies'; quite literally too, so he claims. However, because of his 'rockstar lifestyle', the strange things he sees could be down to proven drug use. He is very insecure about himself, deep down, and can be snappy if he's ever insulted. *'Job:' Musician; guitarist (and lyricist, somewhat) *'Talents:' Very talented with the guitar. Has quite a good singing voice, too. For a 'rockstar', he's also very intelligent. Terrible at cooking though, and could possibly win the award for 'world's worst cook' if it were to exist.